Oil and gas separator



June 8, 1937. E. c. WEISGERBER OIL AND GAS SEPARATOR I Filed'Nov. 11, 1935 Inventor A tlorney Patented June 8, 1937 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 011. AND GAS scram-ma Edwin C. Weisgerber, Los Angeles, Galiil, assignor to Master Separator and Valve Company, a corporation of California Application November 11, 1935, Serial No. 49,229

4 Claims.- (Gl. 183-2.?)

This invention has to do in a general way with tion of rotation which the mixture has received the art of separating and recovering liquid and upon its entry to the shell. 7 gas from a fluid mixture containing both liquid As a means of further increasing the separating and gas and is more particularly related to imefficiency of my invention, I contemplate the emprovements in oil and gas separatorssuch'as are ployment of a substantially horizontal spreading 5 used in conjunction with the production of surface upon which the rotating stream or petroleum. streams of fluid mixture are delivered and over Separators of the type above referred to such which such mixture travels in a relatively rapidly as are generally used in conjunction with oil moving thin sheet. During its movement in such v 10 wells usually consist of a shell or receptacle of sheet the mixture is delivered on down through 10 vertical cylindrical form which has an oil and gas suitably provided slots in the spreading surface inlet near'the top thereof and is provided with which is in the nature of an intermediate gallery an oil outlet near its bottom and a gas outlet near and into another spiral trough which conducts its top. Within the shell various types of baflles it on down to the bottom of the tank or to further etc. are provided to control the flow of the fluid galleries as may be provided depending upon the 15 therein so that the gas escapes from the oil as the operating conditions and circumstances. latter gravitates toward the bottom of the shell. It is a further object of this invention to pro- These separators are usually provided with float vide an oil and. gas separator of the class demeans associated with valves in the outlet conscribed with scrubbing means associated with the nections so thata predetermined fluid level and gas outlet opening which will separate entrained 20 gas pressure is maintained within the separator water and oil from the gaseous medium and inor trap. sure the delivery of a completely dry gas and the It is a primary object of this invention to proemcient recovery of all of the liquid in the fluid vide an oil and gas separator 01 theclass demixture. 5 scribed which will operate with a high degree It is a still further object of this invention to of separating'efliciency upon any oil or gas mlxprovide an improved float construction which is ture. It is a further object of this invention to especially adapted for use in combination with provide a separator of the class described which an oil and gas separator or gas-trap of the type is especially adapted for use in conjunction with hereinabove referred to. The details in the con- 7 3 an oil and gas mixture having a tendency toward struction of a preferred embodiment of my inexcessive foaming or frothing. With this latter vention, togetherxwith other objects attending object in mind I have discovered that if an oil its production, will be best understood from the and gas mixture which has a great tendency tofollowingdescription of the accompanying drawv ward foaming or frothing is subjected to the ing which is chosen for illustrative purposes only action 'of centrifugal force in addition to the andinwhich 35 gravitation and spreading action usually em- Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation showing a preployed,that the oil films which retain the bubbles ferred form of my invention; of gas in the foam or froth are more readily Fig. 2 is a plan section taken in a plane repre- I broken making for a more thorough and eflicient sented by the line 22 of Fig. 1; and 40 separation. Fig. 31s a plan section with parts broken away 4 My invention therefore contemplates a sepataken in a plane represented by the line 3-4 of rator construction in which the gas and oil mix- Fig. 1. ture is given a whirling or swishing action as it More particularly describing the invention as enters theseparator and in which such whirling herein illustrated, reference numeral ll indimotion is maintained in the fluid mediumuntil cates a vertical cylindrical shell or receptacle it reaches a predetermined'point near the lower which is shown as being supported upon legs I! portion of the tank. With this point in mind my and is provided with a bottom drain plug l3, a invention contemplates the use of spiral troughs blow-ofi valve l4 and a manhole ii of any or channels mounted on the inner surface of the ventional construction. 0 tank below the point of entry of the gas-oil The shell is provided with an oil outlet conmixture such channels receiving the mixture nection l8 near its bottom and with a gas outlet from slots in an annular chamber provided at the connection l9 near its top, such connections beinlet, and being inclined and shaped so as to coning provided with valves diagrammatically indiduct-the fluid mixture downwardly in the tank in cated at 20 and 2| respectively, such valves being 5 a general direction corresponding to the direccontrolled in the conventional manner by means of control arms 22 and 23 respectively, which are, in turn, connected to a float lever 24. The inner end of the lever, 24 supports a float 25. This float and valve assembly which may be of any conventional type is provided for the purpose of maintaining a predetermined oil level (L) and a predetermined gas pressure within the shell.

Since the pressures encountered in gas traps of this character arefrequently very large, it is necessary to provide the float with a vent opening of some kind for the purpose of pressure equalization therein. In this form of my invention the vent opening is formed in the nature of a pipe 26 which extends upwardly a substantial distance above the liquid level where it is provided with an opening 26. In the case of very frothy oil, or oil which has a tendency to fog, some liquid will be carried into the float with surges in pressure, and will be deposited therein, frequently accumulating to a point that the float action is destroyed. In order to avoid this accumulation within the float, I provide the same with a drain opening which is connected,

by means of a flexible conduit 21 to a drain valve 28 situated on. the outside of the shell.

The flexible conduit does not interfere with the operation of the float in any way, and the exterior drain valve permits withdrawing the contents of the float from time to time so that its efllcient action is not impaired.

Reference numeral 30 indicates a gas and oil inlet connection which receives the fluid mixture from the well. Such connection is shown as being mounted upon the shell wall and has an opening through the wall which communicates with an annular chamber or gallery generally indicated by reference numeral 3|. The gallery 3| is shown as being closed on top so as to provide a closed chamber for receiving the fluid mixture and within this gallery or chamber immediately opposite the inlet opening 30 I provide a deflecting plate or partition 32. This deflecting plate or partition 32 is designed so as to give a flow line to the oil and being composed of wear resisting material it reduces the abrasive action to a minimum. The plate is. further formed and arranged so as to impart a unidis rectional rotation to the fluid mixture thereby setting up the centrifugal action which is retained in the liquid stream through the remainder of the travel toward the bottom portion of the shell;

In this form of my invention the bottom wall 3| of the gallery or chamber 3| is shown as being provided with two sets of arcuate slots generally indicated at 33 and 34. These sets of slots are arranged in angularly spaced relation with each other and it will be observed that the outermost slot is a slight distance away from the wall of the shell.

Immediately below the sets of slots 33 and 34 I provide spiral trough members indicated generally by reference numerals 35 and 3B respectively. These trough members are shown as being in the nature of angle pieces which are bent in a spiral and are welded or otherwise secured to the inner surface of the shell below the corresponding slots.

The troughs, as pointed out above, are of a spiral nature and are downwardly inclined, the direction of the spiral or the incline being the same general direction as the direction of rotation which is imparted to the fluidmixture as it enters the annular chamber 3|. In other words, the fluid mixture will leave the slots in the annular chamber 3| in the general direction of the arrow A in Fig. 1 and the inclination of the trough is such that this fluid will continue this same general direction of travel as it moves downwardly through the troughs. The troughs are located with their upper edges slightly behind (relative to the direction of moving fluid) the rear edges of the slot as is clearly illustrated in the dotted line positions of the troughs with respect to the slots in Fig. 2.

The fluid mixture flows downwardly through these spiral troughs and around the wall of the shell to the lower ends of the troughs where the mixture is discharged with a whirling or swishing action into a substantially horizontal gallery indicated by numeral 40. The centrifugal force obtained by the initial rotation imparted to the fluid, which is maintained by the spiral troughs, is effective to'break down the film holding the gas bubbles and insure an eflicient separation.

The gallery 40 is shown as being in the nature of a flat annular plate which is welded at its periphery to the inner surface of the tank such plate being formed at its inner circumference with a vertical flange member indicated by numeral 4|. A cover plate 42 is shown as being mounted upon the upper edge of the flange 4|.

The bottom plate of the gallery 40 is provided with a pair of radially spaced slots indicated by reference numerals 43 and 43' which extend about one-third the circumference of the gallery on the horizontal bottom thereof. The fluid mixture swishes around this annular gallery, part of the same flowing downwardly in thin streams through arcuate slots 43 and 43' from which it falls down on to a second spiral trough generally indicated by reference numeral 44. This spiral trough 44, like the two spiral sections referred to above has the same direction of inclination as the direction of movement of the fluid so that the fluid mixture flows downwardly through a spiral path along the periphery of the tank without changing its direction as it enters this trough. Further separation is efiected in this trough and since the pitch of the spiral in this trough is considerably decreased (the spiral running substane tially one and one-half times around the shell) its velocity is somewhat retarded by the time it reaches the discharge end 45 of the bottom spiral 44. In order that the liquid from the discharge end 45 of the bottom spiral 44 may be received in the body of oil contained in the bottom of the shell with the minimum amount of disturbance in such'body of oil, I propose to terminate the end of the bottom spiral 44 at a substantial distance above the oil level L.

The gas which is released from the oil as it travels downwardly through the various troughs and over the gallery as described above, moves upwardly through the mid-portion of the shell, entering the gas discharge connection l9 through a scrubbing unit generally indicated by reference numeral 49. This scrubbing unit may beof any conventional construction but it is preferably of the type shown and described in my co-pending application, Serial No. 49,462 entitled Scrubber which is being filed concurrently herewith. This scrubber unit 49 has an inlet front 50 and is provided with a series of slotted plates 5|, screen members 52 and deflecting members 53, such as are fully described and illustrated in my copending application above referred top The unit 49 is also provided with an outlet pipe 54 leading downwardly to the bottom portion of the shell, Such pipe being effective to conduct the entrapped liquid separated from the gas in the scrubber back into the body of liquid in the shell, thereby reducing the possibility of loss of liquid to a minimum.

It is to be understood that while I have herein described and illustrated one preferred form of my invention, that the invention is not limited to the precise construction described above, but includes within its scope whatever changes fairly come within the spirit of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a gas and oil separator, the combination of: a vertical shell; an annular chamber mounted on the wall of said shell near its upper end,

said chamber having bottom openings; a horizontal gallery mounted on said shell wall below said chamber; means for introducing a gas and oil fluid mixture into said annular chamber; means for imparting a unidirectional flow to said fluid mixture as it enters said chamber; spiral trough means mounted on said shell wall below said chamber and adapted to conduct fluid flowing through said chamber opening on to said gallery; and a second spiral trough mounted on said shell wall below said gallery and adapted to conduct fluid flowing through, openings in the bottom of said gallery into the bottom portion of said shell.

2. In a gas and oil separator, the combination of: a vertical shell; an annular chamber mounted on the wall of said shell near its upper end, said chamber having bottom openings; 2. horizontal gallery mounted on said shell wall below said chamber; means for introducing a gas andoil fluid mixture into said annular chamber; means for imparting a unidirectional flow to said fluid mixture as it enters said chamber; spiral trough means mounted on said shell wall below said chamber and adapted to conduct fluid flowing through said chamber opening on to said gallery; and a second spiral trough mounted on said shell wall below said gallery and adapted to conduct fluid flowing through openings in the bottom of said gallery into the bottom portion of said shell,

all of said spiral troughs being downwardly inclined in the general direction of the rotation which has been imparted to said fluid in said chamber.

3. In a gas and oil separator, the combination of: a vertical shell; an annular chamber mounted on the wall of said shell near its upper end, said chamber having an arcuate slot formed in its bottom wall in inwardly spaced relation with the inner surface of said shell; a substantially horizontal gallery mounted on said shell wall at a sub-- stantial distance below said chamber. said gallery having an arcuate slot formed in its bottom wall in inwardly spaced relation with the surface of said shell; an inlet. pipe mounted in the wall of said shell and opening into said chamber; a deflecting partition mounted across said chamber opposite said inlet pipe for imparting a unidirectional rotative movement to fluid admitted through said inlet; spiral trough means mounted on the inner surface of said shell beneath the slot in said chamber for receiving fluid from said slot and conducting same around said shell into said gallery; and a second spiral trough on the wall of said shell beneath said gallery for receiving fluid from the slot in said gallery and conducting same downwardly around said shell into the bottom portion thereof.

4. In a gas and oil separator, the combination of: a vertical shell; an annular chamber mounted on the wall of said shell near its upper end, said chamber having an arcuate slot formed in its gallery having an arcuate slot formed in its bot- 7 tom wall in inwardly spaced relation with the surface of said shell; an inlet pipe mounted in the wall of said shell and opening into said chamber; a deflecting partition mounted across said chamber opposite said inlet pipe for imparting a unidirectional rotative movement to fluid admitted through said inlet; spiral trough means mounted on the inner surface of said shell beneath the slot in said chamber for receiving fluid from said slot and conducting same around said shell into said gallery; and a second spiral trough on the wall of said shell beneath said gallery for receiving fluid from the slot in said gallery and conducting same downwardly around said shell into the bottom portion thereof, said troughs being inclined downwardly inthe general direction of the rotation imparted to said fluid in said chamber.

EDWIN C. WEISGERBER. 

